About

Hi, I’m Diana! I have a Masters Degree in Nutrition and am a Registered Dietitian, but a few years back, I got burned out talking about healthy eating all day, everyday. So this is not about that!

In 2017, my now husband, Andrew, and I identified the house in downtown Raleigh that we wanted to make our home. At the time, there seemed to be no end to the number of new luxury condos, luxury rowhomes, luxury apartments, etc. being built, but we decided to buy and renovate a dilapidated 1875 single family house instead. This blog was created to document the process of purchasing and renovating our dream house, along with everything we learned along the way.

When we jumped into that project, we had no idea what we were doing but we loved it so much that we quickly began looking for another project.

We eventually stumbled into the opportunity to purchase the house two doors down from where Andrew grew up in Kannapolis, NC. That house needed less work so we were actually able to do most of it ourselves over the course of about 5 months. Now I have it rented out to a young single mother for way below market rate because market rate is idiotic and I’m bad at business.

At the end of 2021, we got our hands on a house downtown Wilmington, NC. We chose to buy a house in Wilmington because it’s relatively close to us (a two-hour drive), but it’s also close to the ocean and is absolutely filled with southern charm. The house is located downtown so it’s a great jumping off point for exploring the plethora of local coffee shops, breweries, and restaurants. Which is to say that we enjoy spending time there and have chosen to list it as a short-term rental so we can continue to stay there regularly. This house didn’t seem like it would need a lot of work other than some repairs to the exterior. But of course in the process of furnishing it, we continue to stumble on new issues that need to be addressed before we can rent it out.

I also still occasionally write about food and share recipes for a change of pace. I particularly enjoy sharing recipes for homemade condiments because what’s life without a little extra flavour?